


First Sight

by kiebs



Category: Free!
Genre: Drabble, First Meetings, Multi, pre-polyamory, short and sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-20
Updated: 2015-06-05
Packaged: 2018-03-31 09:31:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3972913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiebs/pseuds/kiebs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It takes a lot of "first" meetings when it comes to falling in love. Three seems to be an important number for these, well, three.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hazel

**Author's Note:**

  * For [megmeg999](https://archiveofourown.org/users/megmeg999/gifts).



> A good friend of mine requested I post this now that I've debuted Tohru because she thinks it would give some good background to her. I would have to agree, honestly. So please enjoy!

_~Sousuke~_

 

He remembered that when he first saw her, he had felt a ball of some sour emotion in his stomach. He was six, or almost six, and he felt that this little girl, with her downcast eyes leering at the ground and her short, boyish hair, was going to steal away his friends. And it wasn't like he had many, just the Matsuoka siblings, but he was afraid that this outsider, this newcomer, would take them from him. Even though Rin clung to his shirt tightly when Mrs. Matsuoka gently coaxed him forward, even though Gou hid behind him and her brother, Sousuke couldn't help his face forming a wary frown. But then his teal eyes met her hazel, pretty in their mixture of browns and greens with a tiny rim of blue around the edge, and he felt his heart pound at the lost look on her face. He vowed to protect her, even though his stomach was sour, even though he knew she would steal his friends. She had stolen him already. 

The second time he "first" saw her was after a couple years of spotty interaction. Junior high had been a weird time, where he knew what direction he wanted, knew that it would take him away, just as the direction took Rin away. And yet, he found himself still clinging to the past, memories of childhood days invading his mind every time he walked down the road. He just didn't keep in contact as well as he could have with Tohru, the sudden lack of letters from Rin only adding to the distance created when she moved three train stops away to Iwatobi. It wasn't like he was avoiding her when she visited Gou, but their training was on different schedules and when he returned home to find Gou sitting outside his gate with a plastic bag of homemade treats from Tohru, Sousuke always felt his stomach drop.

And then, for the first time in a long time, he saw her, miles away from home, on a trip to Nara that both their schools had arranged. She was taller, she was almost fifteen now, and her hair was so long, so much longer than the bowl cut he remembered. She was pretty and he didn't remember her smiling as much, her annoyed face much more prominent. And though one of those smiles was for him, he couldn't help the sour ball in his stomach at the smile she gave to one of the boys who had stolen Rin. Because now, they were stealing Tohru, too.

The third time, he hadn't been expecting to see her. Of course, considering where he was, considering it was her old swim club, he shouldn't have been surprised. He was still bitter then, still bitter about Nanase stealing Rin and so wound up on the fact Rin was back and had been inspired, again, by damn Nanase, that he might have actually forgotten about Tohru and Gou. Even though it was only because of them that he knew about Rin. And yet, when he saw her, her face uncertain at first before a wide grin stretched her lips, even though she pouted and huffed that he was so big, for a moment, he allowed himself to forget Rin, forget that the past few years he had been horrible about keeping in contact with her, and just enjoy the fluttering in his stomach.

 

_~Makoto~_

 

When he first saw Tohru, they were maybe eight or nine, he didn't clearly remember. It was in the beginning of Haru's and his joining Iwatobi Swim Club and he just vaguely remembered her as a sullen looking girl who hung back from the rest. She swam independently, just like Haru, but she could already swim backstroke and Makoto remembered watching her in fascination. Except at that age, Haru usually drew his gaze, so he didn't have very many memories of watching Tohru swim. He did remember, though, the first time he saw her smile, a small, but warm turning up of her lips that for some reason his younger self found absolutely fascinating. Makoto decided he liked it much better when she smiled.

Makoto probably first noticed her as a girl in middle school. He had seen her before, had actually interacted with her, but the sharp eyes, similar in their impassive gaze to Haru, and the usually down turned mouth had left him feeling a little unwelcome. Not that he thought Tohru unfriendly, he had seen her smile and laugh plenty of times with Miki, Aki, and Kisumi, especially Kisumi. He just felt that maybe she, again like Haru, was really hard to get to know. So he smiled whenever they were forced to talk and though her smiles were tiny, the same type as Haru's, her hazel eyes were warm and grateful. But what got him to realize that Tohru was in fact a girl had been in third year.

Around that time, Makoto was becoming aware that while his classmates babbled about the opposite sex, he couldn't help finding everyone worth looking at. It was because of that feeling that hearing the probably offhand remark to Tohru about her not being cute made him frown. Makoto supposed he was nosy for butting in, but he felt that Tohru was cute, muscles and all, and he was surprised by the blush on her face, the expression new and foreign, and he felt himself blush in response.

It was in second year of high school that he first saw her as more than a classmate. He was well aware of her as a girl, even though he didn't hear his male classmates call her cute (and Makoto still stood resolutely behind the belief that all girls were cute). What he did hear his male classmates say about her made him blush. They never gushed about how she was muscular, but they wouldn't shut up about her curves, their hands gesturing when they didn't think anyone was looking. But it wasn't because of such talk that he noticed her.

It was because his mother had hired her as a babysitter for the twins, his duties as captain of the swim team hampering a great deal of his usual chores. The first time he found her at his house, the twins curled into her sides as they chattered away, Makoto found himself struck by how natural it looked. The twins were fiercely protective of their little family bubble and seeing them curled into Tohru's sides had made something happen in his chest. For the first time, Makoto had the desire to be selfish. 


	2. Green

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still working on Whale Tales, but this is easier to post quickly because I've already written it. At the same time, I'm having troubles with family because my grandfather has been re-admitted to the hospital after just getting out. So sorry and please bear with me! orz  
> Also, posting this from mobile was a bitch.

_~Tohru~_

The first time Tohru saw him, they were children. She had missed a class or two at the swim club, the reason why fuzzy, though it might have had something to do with her being barely nine and already riding the train by herself. She had apologized for it, eyes drifting to where some kids were huddled by a lane, chattering reverently at the splashes coming from the pool. And on the outskirts of the crowd, smiling warmly with pretty green eyes, was a boy Tohru hadn't seen before. He made her tummy feel weird, kinda like Sousuke did when he smiled brightly, and she knew she didn't like it when Sousuke did it so she _especially_ didn't like it when some unknown boy caused it. She decided that as pretty as the boy was, it was best to avoid him.

In middle school, she talked more to him than she had in the swim club though still not enough for them to be considered friends. It was usually Kisumi who dragged her into conversations with Makoto, the pink-haired boy grinning widely as he slung an arm around her shoulders and chattered happily to the smiling brunet. She still found Makoto nice, enjoying the freshness of his smile, and thankfully her stomach no longer felt weird around him. 

That is, until that fateful day in third year where a stupid boy made the stupid remark of her not being cute.

It wasn't like it bothered her. Tohru was well aware that she was more muscular than most of the girls on the swim team, the bad combination of easily gaining muscle from swimming for years and a swim coach for a father. The only ones who had ever called her cute were her family or Rin and Rin had usually been facetious, given her usual deadpan expression as a child. But then, Makoto said those words, that she was even more cute for being muscular, and Tohru felt her face _burn._ Her stomach began to feel funny again whenever he looked at her.

By the time she was a second year, Tohru was well aware that she was crushing _hard_ on Makoto. She could hardly look him in the eye without blushing, grumbling to herself that she was acting like such a _girl._ But she enjoyed the feeling, the words _first crush_ making her smile a tiny bit, but she didn't expect anything to happen with it. That was the point of crushes, right? They happened and then they went away. That didn't happen with Makoto. One moment she was buying snacks at the Kurono conbini and the next she knew, she was hired by Makoto's mother to babysit his younger siblings. It excited her, even though her stomach twisted and knotted, the desire to please his siblings suddenly plaguing her thoughts until that fateful day. However, she shouldn't have worried. Even with the twins leering warily at her, by the time Makoto had returned, the twins were curled against her, talking happily about the movie they had watched. And when Tohru looked up, smiling a little nervously, the expression on Makoto's face made her chest clench and her face flush. Her crush was not going away anytime soon.

 

_~Sousuke~_

Technically the first time he met him, Sousuke hadn't really been paying attention to him. He just remembered a rather plain looking boy, who joked about how no one really called Rin "leader", laughingly teasing, "Oh, really, _Rin Rin_?" He remembered being awed by his backstroke, but only for a moment, only for as long as the swimmer before him wasn't on the block and then he wiped all from his mind, only focusing on his self-made rivalry with Rin. Admittedly, he considered the next time they met, not even a couple months later, to be when he actually acknowledged him. Not that he really focused on him that time either, the only time he met his eyes was whenever he got in Nanase's face, but at least this time he remembered the name of the plain brown-haired boy.

He saw him even less than he saw Tohru in the two years between first and third year of junior high. That had a lot to do with the fact that for some reason, Tachibana and Nanase just _quit_ swimming between first and second year. Sousuke didn't care that Tachibana quit; really, he didn't actually care about him, at all, the bumbling lackey to that _annoying_ Nanase. And he still didn't care when he saw him again, multiple feet away chatting amiably with three girls. He only cared when he realized one girl was ridiculously familiar, his mouth pulling down when he realized who the braid-wearing girl was. He didn't care for Tachibana Makoto, not then, definitely not when his stomach bubbled and twisted at the sweet smile on Tohru's face when she looked at him. He. Didn't. Care.

The third time Sousuke saw those green eyes, he wasn't surprised. They were in Iwatobi, after all, much to his displeasure, so really there was no shock to seeing him. He didn't even look that much different, except now Sousuke would admit that rather than plain, Tachibana was actually kinda maybe good-ish looking. Certainly if he was anyone else, he might actually be tempted to date him. Except for the fact the blue-eyed leech standing next to him and Sousuke would rather eat his own foot than deal with Nanase. Besides, he hadn't returned to date, especially not to date one of the thieves who took Rin. He had other things to do rather than appease passing whims. 


	3. Teal

_~Makoto~_

The first time he met him was briefly in the locker room before that fateful relay. He hadn't really had much time to memorize him, just a flash of dark hair and eyes shaped similarly to his own. Most of what he knew, he knew because Rin's story had left a mark on him. Hardly a few weeks later, Makoto could almost recall Rin's exact wording when, taller and angrier, the dark-haired boy stared Haru down. It was a horrible first (second?) impression, Makoto would admit, but he still wanted to be a least _somewhat_ friendly with him. Rin's wording of "alter ego" rang in his ears, even as the other boy bared down on them, even as he turned and left after a moment with a click of his tongue. Makoto wanted to know more about the boy who had a friendship similar to the one he and Haru had.

Honestly, he might have actually forgotten about Yamazaki by the time he saw him again. It wasn't like they ran into each other often or really at all. In fact, having quit swimming, Makoto was sure he wouldn't see the other boy again. (And secretly hoped he didn't, the memory of angry teal eyes under thunderous brows flashing in his mind.) But then again, Makoto wasn't that lucky and, on the trip to Nara in his senior year of junior high, he was startled by the sight of Yamazaki. His only point of solace was the fact that Tohru had intercepted him before he and his classmates reached Makoto and his. Though he could have sworn their gazes had met and he might have frozen, but then Yamazaki dropped his gaze to Tohru _who looked so small next to him_ and Makoto felt his stomach clench at the smile that formed on the other boy's face. He hadn't realized that he could look so warm.

Third time's the charm, but Makoto wasn't sure that was the right phrasing for the situation. After all, he hadn't expected to see Yamazaki again, especially to see him almost dramatically walk through the door. He didn't look much different from the last time he saw him. Ah, well, no, Yamazaki did look different. Maybe not by much, but he looked _bigger_ , _broader_ than that brief glimpse two? Three? years ago. Makoto felt something coil in his stomach when he realized, watching in wonder as that leering gaze melted into a smile for Gou, that Yamazaki was _taller than him_. He wondered if he had been taller when they were in middle school, too.

 

 

_~Tohru~_

When they first met, she saw him through a veil of tears. She didn't want to make friends. She wanted to go home, but home wasn't home anymore and she glared at the ground to keep from sobbing. Mommy and daddy weren't supposed to just _leave_. They weren't supposed to drop her off with Grandma. She didn't _understand_. Didn't they love her and Kana? The nice lady Grandma called Mrs. Matsuoka urged the little redhead boy forward, but he stubbornly stayed behind the slightly taller one. Tohru tightened her fists in her shirt, trying to look strong, trying not to let them know just how nervous she felt. But then she saw his eyes, teal like the ocean on a pleasant day, like tropical water, and she felt her lip wobble. She hoped it was okay to be friends.

Tohru wouldn't admit how much she actually missed Sousuke when they went to different middle schools. If it hadn't been for Kisumi, Aki, and Miki, she probably would have just withdrawn into herself, trying not to feel hurt whenever she tried to visit her childhood friend and he wasn't there. So she was really grateful for Kisumi, who understood almost too well how much it hurt her to lose contact with him, especially after Rin's letters ceased. But she couldn't help sometimes wistfully looking at something that reminded her of him, like the tiny whale shark charm Miki had given her. It was probably stupid, maybe even petty, but she had a severe lack of light blue or teal colored clothes, even though a fair amount of marine themed items were those colors. She stuck to greens mostly and she was maybe getting over it. It wasn't even like they had been dating or anything, but then she saw him again, in _Nara_ of all places, and she felt her stomach clench painfully. He was so tall, maybe even taller than Tachibana, but those teal eyes were the same and they glowed when he smiled and for one blissful moment, Tohru let herself pretend nothing had changed.

By the time she was a high school third year, she had convinced herself she didn't care that Sousuke didn't respond to her texts. She convinced herself that she didn't _care_ , even though her stomach tore itself to pieces when she thought of how he had just _left_. How she had to learn from his _mother_ that he had gone to Tokyo for high school. How she discovered he didn't even talk to _Gou_ anymore. She was ready to cut him from her life at that point, but Rin returning made a small hope grow in her heart, a small hope that she viciously denied was there. She didn't want to get hurt anymore.

And then, stalking out from a hallway in Iwatobi Swim Club Returns, she saw him. He was so _tall_ , she remembered him being tall, and she hated how her heart jumped to her throat. But she refused to let him go this time, refused to smile as his back walked away, and she ran forward, tugging his jacket, afraid for one moment that it wouldn't be him. However, the moment she saw his eyes, teal like some far off sea, she felt herself grin, her heart thump-thump-thumping when it finally sunk in that _Sousuke was back_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of First Sight! I hope you enjoyed this little insight into these three's minds! ;w;


End file.
